생태학적 생기력과 포스트휴먼 윤리 비전: 얀 마텔의 『파이 이야기』

Abstract

This paper aims to reexamine anthropocentric attitudes toward the non-human world and the commodification of nature driven by human self-centeredness. It also seeks to propose an affirmative posthuman ethics in Yann Martel’s Life of Pi. This novel illustrates how the castaway Pi undergoes a transformation, acquiring posthuman subjectivity as he escapes the grip of anthropocentrism and moves toward interconnectedness with both humans and non-humans while surviving in the Pacific Ocean with the Bengal tiger, Richard Parker. Pi’s experience of unity with nature signifies his growing understanding of the interdependent realities involving nature, the environment and animals. From the perspective of vitalist materialism, Pi comes to realize that he is an integral part of coexistence and coevolution within his relationship with nature and the non-human world. His subjectivity is oriented toward a sense of belonging to the universe. This novel not only prompts a shift in humanity’s environmental consciousness toward a postanthropocentric perspective but also encourages a harmonious balances between humans and non-humans. It suggests a vitalist posthuman ethics for a sustainable future. The relationality between humans and non-humans does not entail a return to exclusive privilege but rather points toward the interconnected facets of vitalist materialism. Pi’s transformation into a relational self with the non-human world invites readers to participate in the process of ‘becoming’ within generative environments and to pursue coevolution within vitalistic self-organizing assemblages.